Fury at Martens’ US TV smears

Killers’ family claim brick was for children’s ‘art project’ Details of Molly’s past mental disorder are revealed

Ralph Riegel in Lexington, Wayne O’Connor and Maeve Sheehan in Dublin THE FAMILY of murder victim Jason Corbett have been outraged at allegations made by convicted murderer Molly Martens Corbett that her husband subjected her to sustained verbal and physical abuse throughout their marriage.

A further thinly veiled slur made by Ms Martens Corbett, in relation to the circumstances surrounding the death of Jason Corbett’s first wife, has again wounded an extended family still coming to terms with his loss in such brutal circumstances two years ago.

The Corbett family are incensed by the allegations, especially the inferences regarding Mr Corbett’s wife Mags, who died in November 2006, though they declined to comment publicly when contacted yesterday.

The claims came in a TV interview conducted before Molly Martens Corbett was convicted last week, along with her father, Thomas Martens (67), of the second degree murder of Jason Corbett (39).

Ms Martens Corbett said in the primetime TV interview broadcast in the US that she feared she might die in circumstances similar to that of the Limerick businessman’s first wife.

The father and daughter were handed minimum 20 year prison terms in North Carolina for bludgeoning Mr Corbett to death in the bedroom of his luxury Panther Creek Court home on August 2, 2015.

Both claimed they beat the father of two with a baseball bat and a brick in self defence.

However, they were found to be totally uninjured at the scene — while Mr Corbett’s skull was crushed from a minimum of 12 savage blows.

Molly Martens Corbett’s mental health has also come under scrutiny.

It emerged during custody battles for Mr Corbett’s chil-

dren that preceded the trial that she was diagnosed as bipolar as a teenager but she told a judge she had not taken any medication or treatment for the condition or for depression for eight or nine years.

However, Jason Corbett’s friend and colleague, Morgan Fogarty, previously told this newspaper that she first told Mr Corbett of her diagnosis just days before the couple moved to the US in 2011.

Mr Fogarty said Mr Corbett confided in him that he “had found out that Molly had a few health issues that he wasn’t aware of ”.

“He mentioned a couple of medical issues, but he mentioned that she was bipolar,” he said.

“He was clearly upset when he heard that, he was down in the mouth,” he added.

Molly Martens Corbett’s ex-boyfriend Keith Maginn has also claimed in interviews that she was on a variety of medication during their time together and that her parents were aware of her mental health issues.

The Sunday Independent has learned that father and daughter are to move for an immediate appeal hearing in North Carolina.

The revelation comes as the split between the Martens and Corbett families dramatically widened with an online fundraising appeal for the future legal costs of the father and daughter being slated for its “disgusting and vile” comments about the Irishman.

And in an exclusive interview with the Sunday

Independent, Molly Marten Corbett’s uncle, Michael Earnest claimed there is an innocent explanation for the presence, on the bedroom night stand, of the heavy paving slab used to kill Mr Corbett. He told the Sunday Independent that the brick was part of an arts and crafts project for Jason’s children.

He says Molly Martens-Corbett was helping the children with the school assignment in the couple’s bedroom — assisting them as they painted the brick.

The bizarre presence of a heavy piece of masonry in the bedroom was one of the key pieces of evidence that convinced the jury of the guilt of the two co-accused, a jury foreman said after the verdict was delivered.

But, Mr Earnest was critical that this explanation of the brick in the bedroom as part of a homework assignment was not presented to the jury.

In the pre-trial interview with US network ABC for their 20/20 show, Martens Corbett said she always had concerns for herself over the circumstances in which Mr Corbett’s first wife and mother of his two children, Margaret ‘Mags’ Fitzpatrick, died .

The Limerick woman died from cardiac arrest during an asthma attack, a post mortem and subsequent inquest concluded.

However, both Mr Martens Corbett and her father raised doubts over what happened to Mr Corbett’s first wife.

“Sometimes he (Jason Corbett) would be angry and choking me would turn into something sexual,” Martens Corbett said. “Or sometimes the other way around.”

“Everything always felt so real and so scary in the moment when it was happening.”

Molly Martens Corbett claimed she occasionally passed out during such incidents.

“It did always make me think of Mags, his first wife, and wonder if that is what happened to her?”

Both the father and daughter claimed they had heard “whispers” about the precise circumstances in which the 2006 death occurred.

“Yes, it definitely was —prior to that I heard that (questions over the circumstances in which Mags died.)”

“The first time, the second time, the third time, the 20th time that you are suffocated or strangled or someone holds their hand over your mouth or a pillow on your face and you can’t breathe for an extended period of time, you think: ‘Oh, well, his first wife died at 3am.’ Maybe that is going to happen to me.”

Mr Martens claimed Mags’ father, Michael Fitzpatrick, had told him he held Mr Corbett responsible for his daughter’s death.

However, Mr Fitzpatrick, before his death, signed a sworn statement with a Limerick solicitor that he had never uttered such a comment to Mr Martens.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals cannot hear the case until 90 days after the tri- al, conviction and sentencing.

Its initial review will then determine whether the appeal should go to full preliminary hearing — with appeals in North Carolina hinging on aspects of law.

The defence challenges in the appeal are set to include the failure to have three lead detectives in the investigation testify about what they were told about the events of August 2, 2015.

No detective testified about what was said by the father and daughter before, during or after they gave voluntary statements at Davidson County Sheriff’s Office between 5am and 8am on August 2.

The Martens will also challenge aspects of the forensic evidence against them while a third tier of the challenge will be the refusal of Judge David Lee to allow sworn statements from Mr Corbett’s children, Jack (12) and Sarah (10), to be allowed into defence evidence.